Would you pay for a press release?

zman · #1 (**permalink**) 06-08-2005, 03:45 PM

Hi all,

I am looking at launching a new business. I have two professionals who are ready to go and one who is thinking about it. The two that are already in are pre law students, one has completed a major in general studies and is now in pre-law, the other is in year 3 of paralegal.

The third who is thinking about it is a journalism major in his 3rd year. We have quite a bit if experience in writing and marketing between the 4 of us and want to see if it would work.

We are looking at charging from $30.00 to $150.00 depending on the project size and complexity of the content required.

If we provided a portfolio of our work and were able to beat the prices found on the web while making sure that time goals are always met, would this be something that you would pay for?

One of the writers, is looking at making a career of this so she will be working extra hard to make sure her portfolio is solid. I firmly believe the quality of the work will be top notch.

Well, thoughts?

cyanide · #2 (**permalink**) 06-08-2005, 10:41 PM

A Press Release business ?

Yes, it could fly. Won't be easy though, just like any other start up.

Rather than price, I might be looking at concentrating on getting your point across on the site about how important a well-written one is.
A badly written pr... well, may as well not have been written at all.

I've seen a lot of brutal ones, by people thinking they can do it themselves.

Let me know when you get going. I may have an interest as I've got several irons in the fire.. I can be your guinea pig

**brian.mark** · #3 (**permalink**) 06-08-2005, 11:21 PM

We have tried a few that are based in Omaha. They seem to be doing well, and they've done some great things for one of the companies I deal with.

If you're good, a couple freebies and word will spread. Then you don't have to worry about what you charge.

Brian.

ADAM Web Design · #4 (**permalink**) 06-09-2005, 10:21 AM

I'm not sure about your idea. I'm looking at it from the standpoint of my clients and the ones that even bother to do any PR work at all usually do it in-house. Most of my clients can't even be bothered with PRs in general.

One of my advertising clients also has a subcontract PR guy he has "employed" on-call for the past 3 years, a term I use very loosely since the PR guy hasn't been used.

If you were going to make it fly, you'd probably need a creative hook to promote it. I have absolutely no idea what that would be though.

wrmineo · #5 (**permalink**) 06-09-2005, 10:46 AM

Okay, a few point, question and comment to consider:

Take advantage of the college students - have them go to their profs and other department heads for assistance and guidance. See if you can get some help writing a Business Plan - if for no other reason than to help clarify your intent, mission and avenues of attack.

Do you plan to write the PRs or also handle submitting them?

Yes, many people do their own in-house work for a lot of things. But then let's look at what they also outsource:

ebay - PPC - SEO - SES - affiliate marketing - and much more!

Offering your services intially to small, local business would be a good way to get your feet wet and build your portfolio.

Also, the freebie idea would go over well. I wouldn't advertise it, just do so with locals to help get established and a foothold so to speak.

It'll be interesting to see how this progresses for you - please keep up posted.

Good Luck!
w®m

zman · #6 (**permalink**) 06-09-2005, 03:44 PM

We are going to go ahead with the plan. Just from posting this question in several forums we have already picked up 3 clients.

It seems that there is a demand for affordable writing services. Just google PR services and take a look at the costs involved.

I was paying big bucks myself in the past because I cant write anything worth a penny. If I was doing it, I know many others are.

We will be focusing on the actual writing as the core product, submission services will be available as an additional option.

Thanks for the tips guys!

SEOforGoogle · #7 (**permalink**) 06-10-2005, 08:23 AM

As a business model, it seems very interesting, I think the hardest part is showing people the ROI of doing so.

[shameless plug alert]

Here's an article that mayu help to convince some of your clients...

http://seoarticles.seoforgoogle.com/...ease-power.cfm

zman · #8 (**permalink**) 06-10-2005, 10:17 AM

Well, if you want a sample, we have a PR in PRWeb that made it into emedia on the first page.

We paid only $32.00 and were able to get above the rest in our pay category. We got on the first page of http://www.emediawire.com/ you can see the release about half way down.

Nevada Conservatives Frustrated with Republican “Leadership”

You can see how we designed it to grab eyes and attract attention. The PR has only been live for 6 or so hours and we have already received a call from a reporter of a political magazine.

Go to Yahoo or Google news and type in NICPAC. Not bad for $32.00 eh?

It's all in how it is presented, and I think my crew know how to present it.

I think Im going to get started in this business next week.

SEOforGoogle · #9 (**permalink**) 06-10-2005, 12:51 PM

Do you get the tracking stats as well for the $32?

greeneagle · #10 (**permalink**) 06-10-2005, 02:26 PM

Press Release Writing is part of our standard WebSite promotion/Marketing/Maintenance/SEO package.

Our last one thru PRWeb netted 1000 views/hr and almost 300 Journalist "Pick-Ups" within the first 24hrs.

Savvy Webmasters include this in their packet.

Stiff competition also comes in the form of professional Journalist services specificly targeting Press Release Writing offered by every major Press Release Site.

Don't forget there are payments to the PR Agency, that are incrementally designed for varying levels of benefit and impact.

You can count on at least $120USD per release to be effective at all.

Ken